Improvement in splint-broom machines



2 Sheets-Sheet 2. CRUM & LARWILL.

Broom Machine.

Patented March 27, 1849.

2 SheetsSheet 1.- CRUM-& LARWILL.

- Broom Machine.

No. 6,233. Patented March 27, 1849. a v

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JOHN (DRUM AND ABRAHAM LARlVILL, OF RAMAPO, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN SPLlNT-BROOM MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 6,233, dated March 27,1849.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN CRUM and ABRA- HAM LARWILL, of Ramapo, in thecounty of Rockland and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulMachine for Making Splint Brooms of \Vood, which is applicable to themaking of splints of wood for baskets, chair-bottoms, and otherpurposes; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the principle or character which distinguishesit from all other things before known, and of the manner of making,constructing, and using the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which-Figure 1 is a plan of the machine; Fig. 2, a

. front elevation; Fig. 3, an elevation of the left-hand side; Fig. 4, ahorizontal section taken at the line X X of Fig.2, and Fig. 5 a verticalsection taken at the line Z Z of Fig. 2.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

The nature of the first part of our invention consists in cutting aseries of splints from the surface of a block of wood with a cutter by aseries of reciprocating motions in the direction of the grain of thewood, in combina tion with an intermittent motion, either of the cutteror the wood, that one splint may be out after another along the entiresurface of the block, the cutter being so formed as to sever each splintfrom the block on twosides-that is, along the underface and oneedgewhether the block from which the splints are to be out be round,flat, or of any other regular form and whether the splints be out alongthe entire length of the block or only a part of thelength, as in themaking of splint brooms.

The nature of the second part of our invention consists in combiningwith the cutter that severs the splints from the block one or morecutters having a less range of motion to split each splint along aportion of its length to make the broom of fine splints toward the tip,while they retain their full width toward and at the butt of the broom.

The third part of our invention relates to the method of making splintbrooms; and it consists in so moving the block of wood or the cutter, orboth, toward one another in such way as to make the splints thicker atthe butt than at the point, and also in giving to the cuttenstock or theblock an intermittent motion in the direction of the axis of the blockat the end of each series of cuts, that the splints cut on the block maybe shorter as they approach the center of the block.

In the accompanying drawings, which represent our invention as appliedto the making of brooms, Ct represents a frame properly adapted to thepurpose, but which may be varied at pleasure, and b a vertical spindleor mandrel running in a box 0 and on a step below, to the upper end ofwhich is fitted the block of wood d to be formed in a broom, which iscentered and held in place by a sliding center 6 and screw f in mannersimilar to alatlie. The mandrel receives an intermittent rotary motionto turn the log the distance required for a splint at the end of eachcut-that is, at the end of each return motion of the cutterby a spur 7Lon the crank-shaft 'i, which at every rotation of the said shaft pushesback a slidej, provided with a pin it, that lies in a slot in the arm ofthe lever Z of a dog or hand in, that acts on the teeth of a spur-wheeln on the mandrel, so that at each rotation of the crank-shaft themandrel is rotated the distance due to the motion given to theslide bythe spur; and at the end of each entire revolution of the mandrel theaxis of the mandrel must be moved toward the cutter a distance equal tothe thickness of the splints intended to be out, which is effected by anarm 0 on the mandrel, which at every revolution strikes one tooth of awheel p and turns it through the distance of one tooth; and this wheelis on a screw q, that has its bearings in the frame and is tapped in anauxiliary frame 1', that carries the box 0 in which the mandrel ismounted. In this way the mandrel is at the end of each series of cutsmoved by an intermittent motion toward the plane of motion of the cutteras the splints are cut nearer and nearer the center of the block. Thelatter of these is the plan adopted in this machine.

The cutter 8, made with a thin projecting lip t, is attached to or madepart of a block attached to aslide Lt, that slides vertically in arecess in a horizontal slide r, the said horizontal slide being adaptedto a groove in a cross-head to, similar to the cross-head of asteam-engine, which Works on vertical ways a; to by means of twoconnecting-rods y 1 that take hold of cranks on the ends of thecrankshatt bet'ore mentioned, so that at every rotation of the saidcrank-shaft. the cutter re ceives a reciprocating motion up and down tocut a splint from the block. The block to which the cutter is attachedis made to slide vertically by a vertical screw a, tapped into the slideand having its bearings in the arm of the horizontal slide, and theupper end of the said screw is provided with a toothed wheel I), whichis turned at stated periods by a spur e on a toothed wheel f, which actson a spring-slide a provided with aspring hand or pawl b ,'that takesinto the teeth of the wheel I). The said wheel f is turned the distanceof one cog at each rotation of the crank-shaft by a dog or hand 9', thelever h of which is jointed to a spring-slide i, that is forced back atthe end of the upward motion of the cross-head by passingu'p an inclinedplane 7' on the frame. This arrangement of parts is for the purpose ofgradually elevating the cutter that every series of splints may be cutof less length as they approach the center of the block, that the coreof the block to which all the splints remain attached may be of aconical form; or, in other words, to make every series of cuts (oneseries extends entirely around the block) of less length as theyapproach the center. For this purpose the number of cogs on the wheel fshould be equal to the number of cuts constituting a series, that thecutter maybe elevated only at the end of each series. The cutter must bemoved toward the axis of the block at the end of each series of cuts tofeed or present the wood for another series, and this is done by meansof the horizontal slide in which the cutter-slide works, the saidhorizontal slide being adapted to receive the threads of a screw it,that has its bearings in the cross-head and provided with a toothedwheel Z, the cogs of which are acted upon to turn the screw and move thecutter forward by another spur m on the front face of the toothed wheelf, so that the cutter is moved toward the block at the same time that itis elevated; but ithas been stated that the lower end of the block ismoved toward the cutter at the end of each series of cuts, and that thecutter is also moved toward the block. The object of this is to make thesplint thicker toward the butt than at the point, for it will be obviousthat the motion of the cutter alone toward the block would make thesplints of equal thickness from end to end; but if at the same time oneend of the block be also moved toward the cutter then the splints atthat end will be thicker than at the other, and the difference of thisthickness will depend on the extent of the relative motions of thecutter and block of wood toward each other.

To the slide of the cutter is attached an arm a, (see also horizontalsection, Fig. 6,) that carries slitting-cutters 0, which cut into thesurface of the wood radially to a depth equal to the thickness of asplint, so that when a splint is severed from the block by the main wascutter, the wood having been previously split by these cutters 0', eachsplint will be divided into several, the number depending on the numberof cutters o, and as these are above the main cutter of course the mainsplints will only be slit along a portion of their length, thusretaining all the strength and stiffness required near the butt, whilethe tips are made as fine as may be desired, and the length of the slitpartmay be varied at pleasure by varying the distance between theslitting and the main cutter.

The machine is operated by a belt 1) from some first mover passingaround the pulley g on the cran z-shaft, from which all themotions arederived.

\Ve wish it to be distinctly understood that we do not limit ourselvesto the application of the leading parts of our invention in the formabove describedbut claim the privilege of varying these to any extentdesired so long as we retain the principle of our invention or anyessential part thereof, and therefore we will exemplify how these may bevaried. As, for instance, the leading part of our invention may beapplied to the cutting of splints for various purposes other than broomsfrom a flat block instead of a round one by placing it on a carriageinstead of a mandrel, the carriage being made to move by an intermittentmotion to feed the block to the cutter for the cutting of each splint insuccession and at the end of each series of cuts by a motion at rightangles moved toward the cutter to present it for a new series of cuts;or, instead of moving the block, the cutter can receive three motions,one continuous and reciprocating-in the direction of the grain of thewood, and another intermittent to present the cutter to the wood foreach successive cut, and a third toward the face of the block at the endof each series of cuts to prepare for a new series.

Vhen the machine is applied to the making of splints for purposes otherthan brooms, they may, if desired, be severed entirely from the block,and whether the principle of our invention be applied to the making ofsplint brooms or splints for other purposes the splints can be cut froma round or flat block at pleasure; but if for brooms they should be cuton a round block to avoid the necessity of attaching them to a centralcore or block, which may, however, be done.

The minor parts of our invention, as above described in the machine formaking brooms, may be variously modified without changing the principleor mode of operation thereof as, for instance, instead of rotating theblock by an intermittent motion for each cut the cutter can be attachedto a circular gate surrounding the block and made to travel thereonaround the block by an intermittent motion, in which event it will benecessary to move the cutter at the end of each circuit toward the axisof the block for each new series of cuts.

Insteadof moving the cutter in the direction of the grain of the wood tosever the splints, the block may be moved for this purpose; and insteadof moving one end of the block toward the cutter-and the cutter towardthe block to make the splints thicker at the butt than at the point,this may be done by moving both ends of the block, one end more than theother, and to effect this the apparatus described above for moving oneend can be applied at the other end in the same way, the motions at thetwo ends being so regulated in extent as to make the difference requiredin the thickness of the splints; or the same end may be attained bygiving an alternate motion to the block, first moving one end and thenthe other, and giving two cut ting motions of the cutter for eachintermittent rotary motion of the block, so that the cut which is madeafter the upper end of the block is moved toward the cutter shall cutoff a Wedge-formed splint or shaving that the next out after the lowerend of the block has been moved shall form a splint on the 7 blockthicker at the butt than point. By this toward the center of the blockthan at the periphery, instead of moving the cutter upward the same endmaybe attained by moving the block down, but we deem the mode abovedescribed the best.

Having thus pointed out the nature of our invention, the best mode ofconstructing and using the same, and the various modes in which theprinciple or character of our invention can be applied, we declare thatwhat We claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. Cutting a series of splints on orfrom the surface of a block of woodwith a cutter by a series of cuts in the direction (or nearly so) of thegrain of the wood, substantially as described, in combination with aseries of intermittent motions, that the splints may be out insuccession, one after another, along the entire surface of the block,substantially as described- 2. Combining with the cutter that forms thesplints on the block one or more slittingcutters placed at the requireddistance from the main cutter, substantially as described, that eachsplint may be divided into two or more parts toward the point, asdescribed.

3. The method of forming the splints thicker at the butt than at thepoint, substantially as described, by moving the block of wood towardthe cutter or the block and cutter toward each other, substantially asdescribed.

4. The method of making the splints on the block shorter as theyapproach the center of the block by changing the position of the blockor the cutter or the range of motion of the cutter, substantially asdescribed.

JOHN CRUM. ABRAHAM LARWILL. \Vitnesses:

HARMEN GOETSCHIUS, JOHN HENRY GoETscHms.

